Please sign in to your FIFA.com user account below. This will allow you to make the most of your account with personalization, plus get access to commenting tools, exclusive games, the chance to win cool football prizes and much, much more.

Colombia-Mexico: Quotes

Juan Carlos Chavez, Mexico coach"I’m delighted we’ve qualified, but I’m also sad that we’ve knocked out the hosts. The fact is, though, that we were better than the Colombians tonight, although we’re only in the semi-finals and we’re not champions yet. We came up against a good side and we had a tough time of it in the first half, though overall we played an intelligent game. My players were not overawed by the 40,000 crowd cheering the Colombians on, anything but. They showed they have a tremendous amount of character, and I told them that all the people of Mexico were willing them on. We kept possession, which was key tonight, because if you let players like James Rodriguez and Michael Ortega have the ball, then you’re going to have problems. I didn’t feel nervous at all tonight because we controlled the game. We had a problem with Alan Pulido, who was struggling from the kick-off. He wanted to come off after half an hour and I brought on Edson Rivera to replace him. The change paid off too, and I couldn’t be happier."

Eduardo Lara, Colombia coach "I feel very, very sad because we wanted to go all the way for the people of Colombia. What I won’t accept, though, is people saying that the players are responsible for the defeat. If anyone made mistakes, then it was me. They gave their all on the pitch, and they brought joy to the country. They should be thanked for that. The turning point was the goal we conceded after 37 minutes because we were on top on the time. That changed the complexion of the game completely. We were really starting to dictate the game and then we gave away that penalty. Set-pieces cost us dear tonight. The penalty came straight from a free-kick and the second from a corner. After we equalised we started to reorganise, and we had James Rodriguez out on the left. The problem was that we conceded that second goal too quickly and then time started to fly by."